My planning for Further Confusion has historically been slipshod at best. About a week beforehand, I say, "Oh hey! There's this convention coming up that I enjoy! I should go!" and throw together my attendance in a mad whirlwind of activity. Usually this involves cashing in a bunch of accumulated con karma, wriggling into some arbitrary hotel arrangement, and striding through the door like I planned everything all along.

There's a reason for this (albeit not a great one). For years, FC has been my relaxacon, because I've spent each Baycon with my nose to the newsletter grindstone. (And after the year running FC's newsletter virtually as a one-man show, I banned myself from working it.) The thought of putting any advance effort into it has given me cold sweats.

This year, though, I dipped my toe back in the waters of sane scheduling. I bought my FC2011 membership at the last con. Months ago, I arranged a hotel room with Baphnedia. (Of course, it didn't feel right to make ALL the arrangements in advance ... so I still haven't talked to my boss about the time off yet. ;-p)

The upshot? I'm attending! I should have a spiffy new Baxil mask to show off (though the timeline on shipping will be a little tight), I'll bring my copy of Baron Munchausen (and a few other narrative-style RPGs), and I plan to spend the weekend engaging in haphazard acts of recreation with all my online peeps, dragon and otherwise.

Also, for once I can offer room space instead of request it - Baph and I are currently two people in an offsite hotel room (cheap, but within reasonable walking distance) slotted for up to 4. Is anyone on my friends list trying to scramble together con plans? If we fill the room up, bed space would be as cheap as $20/night.

Given the cold that just won't go away and my chronic travel this holiday season, I'm happy I backed out of FC early. Instead, I'll be spending the weekend with my mate, hopefully nursing a hot coco instead of a running nose.

I hope you enjoy this year's FC! No doubt you'll post pictures, which will only fuel my desire to attend next year.

Thanks. Part of the problem I had this year was that at one point I thought I might actually GET the time off...and nobody was interested in roommating. Given the track record the last few years of planning and cancelling, I can't say I blame anyone...but it would necessitate a hotel room I could pay for as a single if necessary, and the con hotel is a bit pricey for that. $80 something a night, on the other hand, is a bit more doable.

And thank you for the wishes. Everything seems to be aligning toward the dollar stores, particularly Dollar General, so we'll see where that leads. At least there's no third shift, and they open at REASONABLE HOURS.

If you're planning hotelstuff for future years, give me a holler. In general, I don't have rooming arrangements worked out until December (even this year, I didn't start thinking about it until the fall), and con money is always tight. So if a friend says "Hey Bax! Let's split a room!" I'm generally open to the idea.

Kinda wish I were going, because it would be awesome to see you again, but organising a drop-by on such a tight schedule would be more stress for me than it's worth, I think. Have a most awesome time with your semi-planned shenanigans, though!

Everything should work out! If you want to email baxil (at)! tomorrowlands-dot org with the best addresses to get ahold of you and Sammy, I'll cover phone numbers, room key pickup, costs, etc. privately.

If you've still got spare bed-space at the near-enough-to-FC hotel, I'd love to take you up on it, if only for Thursday night (I have chums with a room on-site, but they had to drop Thursday from their reservation)